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ANNEXATION OF DOMINICA. 



SPEECH 



HON. 



>. 



vT 



OF i:isri>i.:^:NrA., 



DKI.TVKKKl) 



IN THE SENATE OF THE U N I T l^: D 8 T A T E S , 



DECEMBER 2t, 1S70. 



WASHINGTON: 
F. & J. RIVES & GEO. A. BAILEY, 

rEPORTEKS AND PRINTERS OP TIIK DKBATKS OF CONGKKSS. 
1870. 



^. 



^ 



ANNEXATION OF DOMINICA 



The Senate having under consideration the joint 
resolution (S. R. No. 262) in relation to the republic 
of Dominica, as follows: 

llesohed, etc., That the President of the United 
States be authorized to appoint three commissipners. 
?nd also a secretary, (the latter to be versed in the 
English and Spanish languages,) to. proceed to the 
inland of San Domingo, and to inquire into, ascer- 

^''"l^'Thc'^poliUcLTstate and condition of the republic 

"^''^Thed'es^iVe and disposition of the people of the 
=aid republic to become annexed to and to lorm 
part ofthe people of the United States. 

V The physical, mental, and moral condition of 
the said people, and their general condition as to 
material wealth and industrial capacity. . 

4 The resources of the country, its. mineral and 
a-ricultural products, the products ot its waters and 
l\TrV<N the general character of the soil, the extent 
• ncr r'oporfion thereof capable of. cultivation the 
c mate and health of the country, its bays, harbors 
a d riVers; its general meteorological character and 
the existence and frequency ot remarkable meteor- 

"T'rhe debt of the Governm.ent and its obligations 
whether funded and ascertained and admitted, or 
unadjusted and under discussion. tj „„,, 

G Treaties or engagements with other Powers. 

7 Extent of boundaries and territory; vyha. pro- 
portion is covered by grants or concessions, and 
generally what concessions or franchises have been 

^'"^"rlfo terms and conditions on which the Domin- 
ican Government may desire to be annexed to and 
become part .jf the United States as one ot the lern- 

^T'such olher information with respect to the said 
GoVernmcnt or its territories as to the said commis- 
sioners shall seem desirable or important with 
reference to the future incorporation ot the said 
DoLinTan republic into the United States as one 

'"Vfc ^i^'AndVe it further resolved. That the said 
commissioners shall, as soon as conveniently may 
be report to the President of the United States, who 
sh'ill lav their report before Congress. 

Sfc 3 And be it further resolved. That the said 
commissioners shall serve without compensation ex- 
cept^ payment of expenses, and the compensation 
of the secretary shall bo determined by t^c fefie- 
tary of State, with the approval of the President. 

Mr. MORTON said: 

Mr. Puesident: The Senator from Massa- 
chusetts, [Mr. SuMXER,] this afternoon, in the 
course of his speech, thought proper to refer 
to my personal rehitions lothe President ot the 
United States, and he presented me as the con- 
fidential adviser of the President, a irequent 
visitor at the White House, and as conferring 
with tlie President alone in the Blue Room. 

i have seen the President in the Blue Room 



on several occasions, for I am somewhat lame 
and unable to go up stairs, and the President 
is kind enough when I visit the AVhite House 
on business to come down stairs and see me, 
and I presume he would do the same for any 
Senator or Representative, or any other per- 
son who was not able to climb the stairs with- 
out difficulty. But, sir, in going into the Blue 
Room, 1 beg to assure my friend it has not 
been for the purpose of secrecy or private con- 
iGrGncG. 

The Senator advises me to go and tell the 
President certain things, and to give the Pres- 
ident certain advice which he puts into my 
mouth. Sir, I do not propose to act in the 
capacity of a go-between. I am too old and too 
lame now to begin the exercise of that char- 
acter. I sometimes go to the White House- 
not as often as a great many others— and i 
always go there on business. I have never 
obtruded upon the President ray opinion on 
any subject. I have never given it except 
when asked for, and then I have endeavored 
to f^ive it honestly, and to tell the truth, tor .to 
advise a President falsely in regard to matters 
of State has always been and must be regarded 
as a crime. , 

If the Senator means to impute to me the 
fact that 1 am a friend of the President, person- 
ally and politically, he is quite right. I have 
been his friend and admirer ever since the 
battle of Fort Donelson ; and although I some- 
times disagree with him, perhaps in regard to 
appointments, or perhaps in regard to meas- 
ures, I always try to differ with him in sucli a 
way as not to assail his personal character or to 
demoralize the party of which he is the heau. 
A series of assaults have been made on the 
President, from time to time, ever since his 
inau<^uration ; scarce has one subsided betore 
another is begun. And I think he has been 
treated with a bitterness of persecution and a 
torrent of calumny that have not been lavished 
upon any Executive of the United States per- 
haps since the days of Thomas Jefferson. But, 
sir, one bv one these assaults have tailed, ut- 
terly failed ; they have been exposed, and have 
become contemptible to the people ot this 
country. The arrows of calumny have lailen 
harmless at his feet ; and although it has been 
frequently announced that the President has 



fallen, he always manages to fall upon his feet : 
andsobe will, I predict, throughout his ad- 
ministration or his connection with public life 
bometimes the arrows of calumny have been 
so thick as to darken the air; but invariably 
he has triumphed, and I predict his continued 
triumph. 

Why, sir, this Administration is thus far a 
great success. The assaults upon it are of a 
persona] character, and do not touch the merits, 
the wonderful success of the Administration. 
Ihe general results of this Administration are 
granu. grand almost beyond precedent. If it 
shall go on for the next two years as it has for 
.he last, twenty-one months, these grand results 
will be so conspicuous, so well understood and 
admired of all men that they will overwhelm 
all opposition. 

Mr. President, the people do not look to 
these personal considerations. They do not 
care whether Ur. Cox is the Secretary of the 
interior, or Mr. Delano ; whether Mr. Motlev 
IS the embassador to the Court of St. James, 
or General Schenck. What they want to know 
JS tliat Ihe Government is well and faithfully 
administered, and all these personal considera- 
■ tiotis are brushed aside as mere idle straws I 
1 must say that the assault of the Senator ' 
Irom Massachusetts upon the President this 
alterrioon was most unprovoked and inde- 
fensible. Jt was not a diflFerence from the 
i resident on mere political principles, but he 
charged the President with usurpation, with 
crimes. He compared his administration to 
that ot Luchanan and to that of Pierce, and 
denounced ir, as he formerly denounced the 
administrations of those predecessors ; and 
sir, he arew a comparison, and I was nained to 
hear It, between Saget, the murdering usurper 
of the Govermenf of Hayti, and President 
brant much to the disparagement of the 
President ot the United States. Saget, who 
murdered fealnave in cold blood ; Sa|et who 
has led the -'dance of blood" of which the 
benator_ speaks, has been held up to the 
adrairalion of the American people i,, favor- ' 
ahle comparison with President Grant' 

He says that President Grant has threatened 
Haytiin his message; ay, he says there are nine 
mem.ces against the republic of Hayti in the 
i resident s message. 1 was surprised to hear 
hat 1 had heard that messa-re read here in i 
the Senate; I luid myself read u carefully, and 

iconless it never su ' ' • •" - 

Sir, these 



to the conduct of Admiral Poor upon the coast 
01 Hayti. 
! Mr. President if you will take this message 
I and read it on that point, you will say unques- 
I tionablv— I say unquestionably— that the Presi- 
[ dent only refers to the acquisition of the terri- 
tory of the republic of Dominica. He does 
speak of "the island of San Domingo" in 
one or two places. He does that perhaps 
inadvertent^ly, because we often speak of "the 
island of San Domingo." In common par- 
lance, perhaps, "the island " is spoken of more 
frequently by that name than it is by that of 
Hayti and the distinction drawn between that 
ana the republic of Dominica. But, sir, allow 
me to read a brief extract to show what the 
-President means; and I was surprised that the 
desperation of the Senator's cause required 
him to putwhat I regard as a false and strained 
construction upmi this message. Speaking of 
the republic ot Dominica, the President says: 
" It IS a weak Power, nnmbcrins probably less tlnn 
one hundred and twenty thousand souls"- 

That is about the population of Dominica, 
while Hayti has seven or eight hundred thou- 
sand — 

" It is .-i weak Power, numbcrinff probably les=i than 
one hundred and twenty thousand iouls a fdveVr ob- 
sessing one ot the richest territories unde the sun 
capable of supportinfr a population of ten millions 
of people mluxury. The people of San Dora <- , o 
not capab e of maintaining th emsel ves in the r m' - 
ent condition, and must look for outside snV,, „t 
Ihey yearn for the protection of our free ins Uu ins 
lefuse'them ?•' ^™^'''' ^"'^ civilization. Shall T^ 



ujjgested such a thought, 
'nine menaces'' are simply nine 
nien in buckram, existing only in the Senator's 
imagiuation ; and I submit to candid men of 
all parties that the President's message does 
not mean any such thing as the Seuator has 
attributed to it. He gives it a strained and 
technical construction that has never been 
given before by^.anybody or by any newspaper 
tliatl have read or heard of He says Ihe 
1 resident threatened the whole island of San 
Homingo, threatened the republic of Hayti 
and he endeavors to support that by referring 



I therefore put aside this pretense that the 
President in his message has threatened the 
republic of Hayti. 

The argument of the Senator from Massa- 
chusetts throughout has demonstrated the ne- 
cessity and the importance of this investigation 
My triend has appeared upon the stand this 
alternoon as a witness. He has testihed copi- 
ously, voluminously, and yet has scarcely pro- 
duced any testimony to sustain one of his asser- 
tions. He states these things, he says solemnly, 
because he knows them to be true; but he has 
not favored the Senate with any evidence to sus- 
tain the most of them. Perhaps the Senator 
thinks that what he does not know in re<'ard 
to the republic of San Domingo is not worth 
knowing; but while he may know it very well 
he may not be able to satisfy all the rest of 
us ; he may not be able to satisfy the country 
And now we propose a commission that shall 
go upon the ground and make an examination 
so far as it can be made, and reoort to us the 
facts, that we may judge for ourselves whether 
or not annexation is desirable; and, as I have 
said before, when I introduced this resolution 
1 supposed It could not elicit debate; I sup- 
posed it would not be resisted, for, presuming 
that the Senator himself was desirous of full 
and complete knowledge, that he desired to 
be accurately informed, and believing that this 
was the very best possible method to get full 
luiormation upon points which have been here- 



tofore in dispute, I supposed tl.is tesolalio,, 
"°^'^/S,:nt"L"r;y°;;a. nearly a.. *e 

sT"'-firaarpSsedt.t:isr; 

1 VI Irf Imt we nronose to send a cora- 
audto do that y^ J ^^^,1^3,^., t,,is informa- 

;?r?ruost acceSle and can be most ac^ 
tion IS iiiub proceeding, as i 

i«rSsr^kt^ssiri5f|S 

T^e Senalor.has ^P-' Pf^^f .^^ ,S Gen- 
I" r SScU "uTs^s^ed E name, alleging 
, \ wS styled l>.mself aid-de-camp to tl.o 
tli-at lie liid sty e« p,.gg-,je„t, it wo yiere 

President, u ny, -ui. ^^^ :f lint was be- 

value ot^hJ interrogatories that are to be 

the President should privately "«« J>^^;" ^^,. , 
ence with members of Congress or of the Sen_ 
r,,. to brin- about its ratihcation. bir, tt p 
a,( to 1'""° "^ , . 'Yi^^ protocol was pu- 

"' :w';n.r wa not attacLd to the treaty ; - 
valely maae, '•''y .„eatv ; but it made no 
"'" i'lon'that the PreS't' should privately 
1 Siu^ ee n "nbers of Congress or try to do so ; 

g„uen over, and tl i.jt ' J«» ,„,-,e, „„im- 
: ;:",.\:'"°?h^;si?, h'a)o„.ssed ,,imseir, as 

^ »t-"E HEE i-r^iX 

; i !S*£bx:idS^s^^? 



feiri^^sSonvi?^''^ 

obiection is frivolous, and I pass it by. 

The Senator began his speech by sayu gtliat 
this soluSinavV-teda-'danceotbood^^ 
This was a tremendous sentence, and bur.t 
imon The Senate like a rocket in the air, which 
Xays leaves darkness just after ; and I would 

£fkk^=u^i:?i:^?\:ft^^ 
t;^s:^t^^iyt-^d^nKS^S; 

''Shl^'Sn that my resolution cre- 
ate^thle^offiLs whose pay is g^^^^^^^ 

^^T^^d ^ hear Ihis • The'sTSute tLt he read 
^f^v^orfmMi of diplomatic and commercial 
lie t, a ^ermLnent Jfficer that is described as 
Kmnmilsioner, like the commissioner to he 
Sandwich Islands, and does "^^ ^'f. ^\^\V;^ 
such commissioners as are Provided tor in tm^ 

mat enUiplomatic officer such as vve have a. 

ht Sandwich Islands and at other places. We 

.ve comm ssioners to examine twenty miles 

f rniUvav and to do various other ihmgs. 

' "^ AT, CONKLING. That statute does uot 

reil 'to^i^y commissioners except those named 

inthe stLute itself. They are specifically 

'"Mr''MORTON. Certainly, the commis- 
"^°"ieSfa'saT:;Smeroto"l,£eS 

l«SlS?Srfn^t 

, annexation. Is there one woi 

ii for this statement? Is ^^'7. ^.frJ^^^'^T^o under 
' notfavortheamiexationofSanUomm 

his present ,conv.ctions to be k.ghten^ ^^^^^_ 

SSSSEMoiS 

San Don»»S»'°»J=T''=TUt repot is^to be 

S^^^s^^S >^ '°iSe"trs 

-:-=a=5£H-s: 

£fL°S;rngTe'r'iLSr to provide that 



6. 



tlieyshould have no authority to give their 
opinion at all. They are simply to report the 
lacts, and we are to pass upon them. So 
nobody need be frightened against the resolu- 
tion by saying that it commits Congress to the 
policy of annexation. 

'J'hen, again, he says the resolution is unne- 
cessary because the President has full power 
lo appoint the commissioners without it. Why, 
ihis_ IS a most astonishing argument! After 
liavmg pressed upon us with great force that 
Mie appointment of Babcock was a usurpation, 
and that his negotiation was a crime, the Sen- 
ator comes back- and tells us that this commis- 
sion IS wholly unnecessary, the President has 
power to appoint commissioners without any 
act of Congress to go there and do all that we 
propose they shall do, and even more! 

V.liy, sir, suppose the President had taken 
that authority without consulting us, would he 
not have been denounced fiercely for usurpa- j 
tion? Would this commission not have been ' 
denounced as a mere prrvate agency on his 
port— and so it would have been— for the pur- 
pose of aiding him in a most iniquitous scheme "^ 
^o, sir; we took a different view of it ; and the 
President, allow me to say, has no power to 
appoint a commission like this; he has no 
power to provide a secretary; he has no power 
to inake the provisions that are contained in 
this resolution. 
Then, again, the Senator calls Baez, Cabral, 

i'al)ens, and Babcock jockeys 

^^!''- ;'t!I')^^''^^'^- Not Cabral ; Cazneau. 
Mr. MORJ ON. Ah ! not Cabral ; that revo- 
lutionist is in favor, is he? A mere adventurer 
who for the last two years has not had four 
Jiuiidred men under his command at anytime, 
and has kept himself in the mountains of Hayti, 
and has not been in Dominica except upon 
one occasion, when he ran over, I believe, to 
Azua and was immediately driven back. Per- 
haps 1 do not name correctly the place to which 
he went, but it is near to the boundary line 
between Dominica and Hayti. Why, sir, he is 
a mere commander of banditti who does not 
and has not endangered the government of 
tiaez ; but he has all the time been presented 
in the consideration of this question as a for- 
midable leader, with great strength behind him, 
and not to be resisted except by the naval force 
that the President has put at the command of 
isaez to keep him in power! 

Ah! Mr. President, Cabral has been made 
good use of during this discussion of San Do- 
mingo. He has been presented constantly as 
a great difticulty, as an impending and threat- 
ening danger only to be overcome by the mili- 
tary power of the United States, a mere leader 
ot banditti ; and the evidence so far as I have 
seen it— and I think my investigations have been 
almost as extended as those of the Senator 
from Massachusetts— has never for a moment 
presented him as having any power to dis- 
turb the stability of the Baez government in 
Uommica. 



But, then, he comes to the charge that we 
liave kept Baez in power by three ships of war 
stationed upon that coast, and that the treaty 
vvas negotiated under the guns of that fleet. 
Admiral Poor has been denounced in the 
bitterest terms for his conduct in recrard to 
Dominica and Hayti. Why, sir, I "should 
regard this as a very serious statement if it did 
not appear to me to be ridiculous. With all 
respect to the distinguished Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts, It seems to me that he has over- 
drawn this thing in a manner that can only be 
described as ridiculous or ludicrous. These 
revolutionists are not sea-going people. Thev 
have no fleet. Their field-of operations, small 
as It is, is inland and among the mountains. 
Buc they have been kept in subjection by rhe 
three frigates of Admiral Poor! We must 
understand that the admiral has marched 
those frigates across the island and through 
the mountains, doubtless with a large crew of 
horse marines, that have kept this Cabral and 
Ills powerful army under subjection' Why 
sir, the character of the danger, wluttever it 
has been, that may have menaced Baez has 
been inland among the mountains, where the 
guns of Admiral Poor could not reach and 
wliere his voice was never heard. And yet 
sir, the country is to be startled, a wonderful 
sensation is to be created by the statemunc 
Itiat this treaty was negotiated under the guns 
of this fleet, and that Baez has been keot in 
power by its presence ! 

Mr. President, the truth is simple ; it lies 
upon_ the surface ; I have been long satisfied 
WJth It; and I confess to you that, so far as I 
am concerned, I do not require the investic-a- 
tion on many of these points to satisfv my 
mind. But while I may be satisfied others 
may not be. The great truth is that men of 
all parties in San Domingo are in fUvor of an- 
nexation. The evidence is that the followers 
even of Cabral are for it, and that Cabral him- 
self has been in favor, and is now in f^xvor of 
annexation. He undoubtedlv would like to 
make the treaty or to conclude the ne<ToriH- 
tions, instead of Baez. But it has been the 
desire and the earnest desire of the great bodv 
of the people upon that island for years to be 
annexed to the Government of the United 
States, and it makes no diflerence, so far as 
that is concerned, whether Cabral or Baez is in 
power, or some other military adventurer that 
may rise to the surface. They will all be in 
favor of annexation, because nearly the entire 
people, with the exception of a fevv desperate 
military adventurers, are in favor of it. 

Even the. people of Hayti are in favor of 
annexation. Only a few months ago we had 
Mr. iait here, an able, educated, and intelli- 
gent man, the minister from Hayti sent by the 
Salnave government. He stated that the peo- 
ple of Hayti, the great majority, were in favor 
ot_ annexation ; and that they were in favor 
of tne annexation of Dominica to the Uni- 
ted States because they hoped that would be 



the precursor of their own annexation. But 
Salnave was murdered in cold blood ; and the 
wretched and desperate military adventurer, 
the model president of the Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts, when he came into power, for some 
reason- desired to interpose an objection to the 
annexation of Dominica to the United States. 
I am told — I do not know how true it is, but 
it is stated in the papers, and the Senator has 
evidently great faith in what is stated in the 
papers from the reference he made to myself — 
that the minister of Saget, the blood-stained 
president, or dictator, I should say, of Hayti, 
had no more knowledge of his duties than to 
send an impertinent note to our Secretary 
of State remonstrating against what the Pres- 
ident of the United States had said in his mes- 
sage, and that he was promptly rebuked for his 
ignorance and his insolence by our Secretary 
of State, and I believe has apologized. 

The Senator read from the message of Saget 
■^iid from the message of Grant, and he pre- 
-' ited them in painful contrast, giving the 

eference and expressing his free admiration 
' r that of Saget. Then, again, hedraws a pic- 
ture presenting Grant with forty million jpeople 
a I his back and Saget with only eight hundred 
tl.ousand. He presents to us a great Power 
desiring to overwhelm and absorb Hayti, op- 
ressing her by our fleet and threatening her 
:i the message of our President, all of which 
. i pure imagination from beginning to end. 

Then, again, he says that the President tried 

'o get him and the Senator from New Hamp- 

hire [Mr. Patterson] off the Committee on 

oreign Relations. If the President desired 
anything of that kind, or made any effort of 
that kind, I do not know it. But I would like 
to know who it is informed the Senator of that 
I fact. Who is his authority? Who is so famil- 
iar with the President as to obtain the expres- 
sion of his secret desires, his secret operations, 
and then goes and informs the Senator from 
Massachusetts? I undertake to say that he is 
mistaken. 

Mr. President, the annexation of San Domin- 
go will come. I prophesy here to-night that 
it will come. It may not come in the time of 
General Grant, or in my time ; but I believe 
it is destined to come ; and with it, too, the 
annexation of Cuba and Porto Rico. Why, 
sir, this thing was foreseen long ago. I will 
refer to a Massachusetts authority of high 
character nearly fifty years ago with regard to 
the propriety of annexing Cuba. Cuba is not 
now before the Senate or involved in this con- 
troversy. But, sir, San Domingo lies between 
Cuba and Porto Rico. San Domingo is the 
key of the West Indies. It contains the finest 
harbor in the world. It commands the great 
Mona passage from the Atlantic ocean to the 
Caribbean sea. But, sir, I wish to refer to 
what Mr. John Quincy Adams said with refer- 
ence to the acquisition of Cuba, to show his 
foresight and his philosophy. In a letter writ- 
ten by him as Secretary of State to our min- 



ister in Spain, as long ago as 1820, he used 
the following language, wliich I commend to 
the Senator from Alassachusetts : 

''Numerous and formidable objections to the ex- 
tension of our territorial dominions beyond the sea 
present themselves to the tirst contemplation of 
the subject; obstacles to the system of policy by 
which alone that result can l>e compassed iind uiiiin- 
tained are to be foreseen and surmounted both IVom 
at home and abroad ; but there arc laws of political 
as well as of physical gravitation, and if an ainde 
severed by the tempest from its native tree cannot 
choose but fall to the ground, Cuba, forcibly dis- 
joined from its own unnatural connection with 
Spain and incapable of self-support, can gravitate 
only toward the North American Union, wliich, by 
the same law of nature, cannot cast her oft' from its 
bosom." 

Sir, I regard it as destiny not to be averted 
by the Senato/ from Massacliusetts nor Ijy any 
power that wo shall acquire San Domingo and 
Cuba and Porto Rico. I referred yesterday 
to an official statement in regard to the com- 
merce of Cuba and Porto Rico. It is an offi- 
cial document, which shows that the commerce 
of those two islands with the United States 
for the year ending July 1, ISO'J, was S8S,1()2,- 
G70. Of that amount seventy-three millions and 
upward were imports into this country from 
those two islands, leaving a balance of trade 
against us of fifty-eight millions to be paid in 
money. During the same time our entire com- 
merce with the British possessions, with all 
Canada, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and 
the British West Indies, inclusive, was only 
$72,000,000. The entire commerce with 
Mexico and all the South American republics 
during the same time was only $72,000,000. 

I have also an authority here, (Allison's 
History of Europe) — I do not know that I can 
find the particular passage, but I have had 
occasion to refer to it in the course of the 
discussion of this question — showing that in 
1789, before the revolutions in San Domingo 
had destroyed her prosperity, the commerce 
of that island alone, including Hayti, if I re- 
member correctly, was over eighty million dol- 
j lars, justifying what I paid awhile ago, that San 
Domingois the richest piece of earth. Why, sir, 
it is a great natural cabinet of all the choicest 
productions of the world; and San Domingo 
alone, which if we get it will cost us but very 
little, is worth to us commercially, socially, and 
in every other way, fifty Alaskas, for the acqui- 
sition of which my friend from Massachusetts 
was greatly in earnest, and in the bringing about 
of which he had a large influence. 

But I know there is talk about the popula- 
tions of these countries. Sir, they are friendly 
to us now, and will rapidly incorporate and 
consolidate with the people of this nation in 
case of acquisition. They will become con- 
solidated and absorbed in this great people 
long before the people of Canada will be con- 
verted to annexation. The Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts is greatly in favor of the acquisition 
of all the Canadas, and I shall be, too, when 
the time comes, but I tell him that the most 
unreasonable, the most unconquerable, and ob- 



8 



Btinate thing in this world is a British preju- 
dice, and that the people of Canada are fur- 
ther from us to-day, and are less inclined to 
annexation at this time, than they were thirty 
years ago. When they are ready to come peace- 
ably, and are anxious for it, I am ready to 
receive them ; but the line of demarkation be- 
tween them and ns in point of feeling and senti- 
ment would still remain distinct long after that 
between us and the people of San Domingo and 
Cuba would be obliterated. 

I remember, when the proposition was made 
to annex California and New Mexico, what fear- 
ful pictures were drawn of the character of the 
New Mexican population, and yet there is not 
to-day a more loyal people to this Government 
than the people of New Mexico.^ 

The Deople of San Domingo, as I have said 
before,"! believe are almost to a man in favor 
of annexation. I believe that is the feeling with 
the great majority ofthe people of Hayti. lam 
satisfied that itis the feeling of an overwhelm- 
ing majority of the people of Cuba. But we 
are not now dealing with that island. We are 
only addressing ourselves to the question of 
San Domingo ; and I do not propose further to 
examine the general merits of the question of 
annexation. 

This resolution expresses no opinion on either 
side. It simply seeks to lay before this Con- 
gress and before the American people the great 
facts upon which we should determine whether 
we will annex San Domingo or not. The Sen- 
ator from Massachusetts stands up here and 
opposes information. He, the great advocate 
of knowledge upon all ordinary occasions, is 
now utterly opposed to obtaining it on this 
subject. 

1 was struck with the argument of the Sen- 
ator from Delaware [Mr. Bayard] this after- 
noon. He said, forsooth, that this resolution 
was unnecessary, because the President him- 
self was able to lay before us all the informa- 
tion we needed. The President has come into 
great favor very suddenly with the Senator 
from Delaware, who argued that we need not 
to inquire for ourselves, we need not send to 
San Domingo for the facts, because the Presi- 
dent knew them all, and we ought to be satis- 
iied with what he might lay before us. I will 
say to the Senator from Delaware that the 
President gave us the result of his knowledge 
in his message. If the Senator accepts that as 
sufficient, then he is justified in his statement; 
not otherwise. 

Now, Mr. President, I have said about all I 
desire to say on this subject. I have referred 



to every point made by the Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts. In conclusion I would say that his 
points, almost without exception, are wholly 
immaterial, considered with reference to the 
inquiry as a new thing. We are now propos- 
ing to start out on another basis. If we are to 
ha°ve a treaty, it is to be a new treaty. It may 
be that we would prefer a joint resolution, as in 
the case of Texas. But all these things are in . 
the future. This resolution does not propose 
to determine any of those questions, but sim- 
ply to get the facts and leave them for the con- 
sideration of Congress and the nation. 

But the Senator wants this resolution referred 
to the Committee on Foreign Relations. \yhy, 
sir, we have had a report from that committee 
yesterday and to-day. At least three distin- 
guished members of it have reported against 
this resolution. They made strong speeches 
denouncing it from beginning to end, the Sen- 
ator from Missouri, [Mr. Sciiprz,] as one 
member of the committee, describing it as a 
humbug and a sham. After that committee 
has thus made a report in open Senate, and 
given its opinion against this resolulion iii 
every 4)ossible aspect, the Senator from Mas- 
sachusetts desires it still to be referred to that 
committee for a second report. I do not 
think the second report would be any improve- 
ment upon the first. I am satisfied that the 
less we have of that kind of report the_ better. , 
That committee has expressed its sentiments., 
The motion is for delay, and can result only 
in holding this resolution back to such a late 
hour as will, perhaps, forbid action during the \ 
session. _ \ 

Now, sir, as a matter of fairness to all— and ' 
I appeal as well to those who were unfavor- 
able to the proposition of annexation of San 
Domingo before as to those who were in favor 
of it, I appealed in the very beginning to the 
Senator from Massachusetts to favor this ex- 
amination — let us have the facts fairly and 
impartially stated; not something to be dis- 
puted, not something to be asserted by the 
Senator from Massachusetts and to be denied 
by myself or some other Senator, but some 
statement authoritatively made to which we 
can all appeal, and by that we will consent to 
stand or fall. If that statement shall show 
^nraa/aci'e that we ought not to annex Domin- 
ica I shall be as earnestly opposed to it as the 
Senator from Massachusetts. But if it shall do 
what I believe it will do, show that the annex- 
ation of San Domingo would be profitable, 
that it would be expedient in every sense of 
view, then I shall be earnestly in favor of it. 



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